The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

     Just postulating here. I've had this idea rattling around in my head for a while now. I'm tired of the noise, so I thought I'd put finger to keyboard and let 'er go.
     Throughout the Bible, God is refered to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I feel confident in saying that the reason for this handle is easy to understand if we think about it a little. As you may recall, Abraham had two sons. The first was Ishmael, given to him by Hagar, his wife Sarah's maidservant. Perhaps as much as 14 or 15 years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, this being the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham and Sarah. The union with Hagar was by the scheme of Sarah who feared never giving her husband a son. Ishmael was born by human design. God, having promised a son to Abraham and Sarah, made good in His own time. Isaac was born of Godly design.
     While God gave love and protection to Ishmael, even blessing him abundantly in his lifetime, son #1 was not part of the plan to fulfill God's other promise to Abraham. A covenant with Abraham and his descendants after him was to be carried forward to Isaac, (Gen. 17:19). By then we could identify God as the God of Abraham and Isaac. While He certainly was the God of all men, God was creating an identity for Himself by establishing a relationship with this one branch of Abraham's family tree. The covenant of circumcision was the catalyst of a living, loving relationship whereby He would be their God and they would be His people. We can assume that God chose not to have such a relationship with Ishmael and all the other peoples of the earth, at that time.
     Isaac, also, had two sons. Perhaps you recall the story of Esau and Jacob. Esau, being the oldest, lost his father's blessing to his conniving younger brother Jacob. Again God's chosen branch of the family tree was not the right one by man's design, but chosen by God's design. In time Jacob was renamed Israel, the father of the nation Israel, the people of the covenant God made with Abraham.
     Thus we have the identity of God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

OK Murphy, we get it. Where are you going with this?

     This is where it get's sticky. I'll be veturing out into unexplored territory, ( at least as far as I'm aware.) In studying the Old Testament, I've seen how the descendants of Jacob have been followed through the line of his fourth son by Leah, Judah, clear through to King David, and on to the last divinely anointed king, Jeconiah. All the other sons of Jacob's geneologies were listed for several generations, but were subsequently dropped. Only Judah's geneology was maintained.  God placed a curse on Jeconiah, saying none of his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel, (Jer 22:30). It was as if God was done. At this point in time, the remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin were taken into captivity in Babylon. The other ten tribes of Israel were overrun and dispersed a few generations before.
      In the New Testament, we see recorded the lineage of Christ Himself going back through Jeconiah, David, Boaz, and other Old Testament notables, to Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.
     So my eyebrows twitched when I asked myself the question, "why then is He not known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah?"  Surely, by Judah we get Christ, don't we? Isn't Jesus known as the Lion of Judah? Having formed the nation of Judah out of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, don't we see that through Judah the covenant made with Abraham goes on? Upon returning from exile was it not Judah, ( henceforth known as the Jews), who rebuilt the temple? Why does the Bible not include Judah in identifying our God?
     Tough questions, to be sure. We're going deep now.
     Recently, a good freind of mine loaned me a book about the Jews and their development as a nation, and as a people, during the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It didn't take me long to figure out that it would be a difficult read. After page one I declared it "a boring book". After the first chapter, I was done. There were only a few tidbits of information that kept me awake, but I was not willing to go on. Weeks later, however, I remembered one item that was interesting. It was what got me going on this whole dilemma. The author pointed out that the Jewish religion, like Christianity, was a derivitive of the Biblical Hebrew faith.  This was an epiphany for me. I had always understood Christianity to be a derivitive of Judaism. The author of this book, ( a Jewish Rabbi), saw the distinction that had eluded me. Both Judaism and Christianity were derived from the original Covenant between God and Abraham, (later amended by a Covenant with Moses.) Two sons had been born to the Covenant. The older being Judaism, and the younger being Christianity.

 Now hold on there Joe. Are you saying the Jews are not God's chosen people?

     No I'm not. I just found this intriguing. Let me follow up with a brief overview of the Jewish religion as I understand its beginnings. Prior to the exile, for better or worse, God suffered His children, Israel. The northern nation of Israel, having languished under a perpetual dynasty of ungodly kings had failed miserably in maintaining their part of the covenant with God. They had all but abandoned Him and followed after the gods of the surrounding nations and tribes. Ultimately, this lead to their ruin as they were vanquished by the Assyrians and cast to the far reaches of the known world, never to return. The southern nation of Judah wasn't much better, but there were several godly kings woven into the dynasty. Perhaps this spared them and gave them reason for hope, but in the end they, too, were hopelessly corrupt. God took them from the land and brought them to Babylon. The exile. While in exile Judaism was born. Since the Temple was destroyed the synagog was formed as a meeting place and a house of worship. In their despair and regret, a more concerted effort toward legalism gave birth to what would become the Mishnah and the Talmud. A people who had so miserably failed to keep the law were now developing a religion dedicated to following the law. However, in so doing they failed to be dedicated to following God. Religious idealism was the goal, and out of this we see the pharisees emerge. "If God's law demands perfection, then perfection He will have." Any student of the Old Testament would tell you that perfection was never attained by any of the heroes of the faith. Such a pursuit was foolhardy at best, and unbiblical at worst. This was not the faith of the Covenant. This was a new religion. The Covenant appears lost.

Hold everything! Wasn't Jesus a Jew?

     Certainly Jesus was born in Judea, (Judah's new name under Roman rule.) He was raised as a Jew in a Jewish home by Jewish parents. But remember, He was of the seed of God by the Holy Spirit, not the seed of any man. A man received his identity by the seed of his father. In actuality, by birth, He was no more a Jew than I am. By birthright, He was what only He can make any one of us; a son of God. He no doubt was trained in the Jewish religion, but clearly, all His teachings and all His confrontations with religious leaders indicate that He knew the distinction between the Covenant and the religion. Often we read of Him throwing the law in the faces of those who profess to know it so well. Jesus was undoubtedly a man of the Covenant. He lived and loved the law. For Him, the promise of God, "I will be your God and you will be my people," was alive and fulfilled.
     The Jews, who were so steeped in Judaic legalism, while anticipating the messiah, couldn't possibly know Him when they met Him. Their identity was in their religion, not in their God.
    
OK, what's your point, Joe?

     The implications are these as I see them. If what I am proposing is true, then in Christ we are not seperated from the Covenant. To be a Christian is to follow the resurrected Christ as not only our savior, but also to see him as the ressurection of the Covenant. The old Covenant was buried and gave birth to the new Covenant. Not a new idea, but as a resurrected Covenant. The Covenant in the form it was intended to be. In Him we are made perfect, thereby being made righteous, thereby upholding our part in the Covenant. By this, He will be our God and we will be His people.
    
So have we replaced the Jews in God's favor?

     I don't believe so. My hypothesis does not conclude that the Jews are forsaken by God. Remember, Paul pointed out that the salvation message of the Gospel was for the Jew first, and also for the gentile. I see the Jews of the time of Christ as a people who were going to make it up to God. When confronted by the one in whom they had every reason to concede was the Messiah, they had to refuse him. They had to remove Him. They had to kill Him. Why? Because, it would mean they had failed again to save themselves through strict observance of the law. After all, wasn't that what the old Covenant called for them to do? This mentality is flawed on a number of different levels. I'll point out a couple. First, observing the law, but ignoring the prophets was a plan doomed to fail. Second, they must have perceived that of all the children of Israel only this small tribe of people was left. Like Elijah in the cave hiding from Jezebel's goons, they must have felt they were the last bastion of hope in a corrupt world. Since God had intended to hold Israel up as an example to all men and all nations of the Love of their God for His people, and thereby draw men unto Him, they had to stay the course. But, if you remember the story, While Elijah despaired because he was the last one who held to the faith, God spoke to him and said He had seven thousand more men of faith in the land. The Jews had forgotten that the God of the Covenant was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He does not identify Himself as the God of Judah. If God's Covenant is with the children of Israel, then His promises to Israel will be fulfilled. All of Israel, wherever they are.
    
What does this mean for the promises yet to be fulfilled?

I believe the end times prophesies about the return of Israel to the promised land must be fulfilled. As of now, the Jews have returned. It makes sense to me that the rest of the Chidren of Israel will also, whoever they are. How that happens, I don't know. Perhaps some sort of genetic research study will uncloak them. Your guess is as good as mine.
     In conclusion I have four points. First: Jesus Christ is the son of God, by whom we are grafted in to the promises of God. Second: by the grace of God, in Christ, God's Covenant with Abraham is fulfilled. It is alive and being lived out by Christians around the world every day. He is our God and we are His people. Third: many Christians debate the role of the Jews in end time prophesy, but I don't think we can look to just the Jews to be the representatives for all Israel, because God would have certainly identified Himself as "The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah." Finally, religious idealism and legalism are a stumbling block to personal relationship with our God. Like the Jews of Christ's time, to acknowledge Him for who He is implies that our religious practices are for nothing. Do we fail to recognize our Messiah because we are so committed to the cause of the Messiah? Are we so eager to be righteous that we fail to be witnesses of righteousness? Let us set down our role in the Covenant at the foot of the cross. Let us bask in the beauty of the resurrected Covenant which only requires that we have ears to hear and eyes to see our God.